Good luck with the cutout Cossack, let us know how you do. Its exciting to finally do that first one, it takes alot of the fear and apprehension out of it.

Jp, there were quite alot of bees there and I was lucky they were so gentle, not one sting on any of us. Yup, now you know what my mug looks like, remember that it was a hot july day and I was doing a cutout. :-DMy son though, isn't he a handsome little devil. He loved doing that cutout, he is all about the bees.

Thanks Robo, thats really nice of you.Yes the Kerkhoff is really cool to have, this is my first year with it and they are pretty expensive.I wanted it but then was hesitant to spend the money so my husband said since it was close to mother's day and all and I never spend money on myself to go ahead and get it and not feel bad.I bought it from someone in New York who is making them, as a matter of fact he will be at the chemical free conference (wow that is coming up quick) and I heard he is bringing some with him.I actually painted mine to match the color of my house and bought the fancy trim pieces and painted those with the accent color I have on my house (which is the same color as my other hives) and it ties it all in.I did the same thing with my topbar hives as well. I get a little carried away but I have fun and it indulges my creative side.The hive reminds me a little of a gingerbread house now.

I have been doing alot of work on the gardens in my yard.When I bought this house there was not one flower in this yard, it was empty for a couple of years and overrun with brush and leaves.I spent this past spring getting the area around the hives ready.I leveled the area and put down cardboad to smother grass and weeds and then put down loam and then planted all the flowers.The rocks were already on the property so I found a use for them as a border.I really enjoy working in the yard.

Irwin and Annette, thank you so much for your kind words.I am really very fortunate to have my family and to be able to just live the simple life here, gardening, beekeeping, raising chickens and being with my kids.Its really all I ever wanted in life.I am teaching the girls how to bake bread and can jams and all that stuff.They are college girls right now who will no doubt have careers and I think they are just humoring me in the kitchen but you should always know how to do that kind of stuff since you will never know when you need those homemaking skills.Now that I finally learned how to post pictures I am getting caught up with them all.I still have to post pictures of my two oldest girls but I have the youngest and the 4 boys in the album.I have some on another disc I just have to sort through and then I should be all up to date.

I just want to echo the above posts. Nice job on the cut out and on producing a beautiful life style for yourself and family.

Logged

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

Aw you sure are sweet Irwin, sometimes I look at my kids and say how in the world am I already the mom of adults? Its crazy because the years go by so fast.I have been out with my husband and kids and had people mistake me for one of his daughters.I think its hysterical but his is not so amused.I turned 42 yesterday and my oldest daughter turned 21 in June, the other daughter will be 20 soon.Besides my own 6 birth children I became a mom to a great kid who needed a family several years ago, he is 21, closer to 22 now.My kids knew him for a while and he always liked hanging out at my house, when his mother decided that she needed to be with this guy who felt he didn't need to have a kid in his life she told him to go find a place to live. Heartbreaking story really, there is a long history of physical and emotional abuse there and I have tried to undo what I can.I really can't imagine anyone being blessed with this young man and not wanting him.There is a picture of him in the album with Aidan sitting on his lap, it was Aidan's birthday 2 days ago and he just found out that Justin got him tickets to a Red Sox game, which will be his first game and they were both so happy that it just shined through in the picture.Justin turned out to be a fine young man and I am really glad my family was able to change his life around, he is a son to me just like my other kids.